


Empty Pages: Ereri

by ash_g_2



Category: Shingeki no Kyojin | Attack on Titan
Genre: Alternate Universe - College/University, Armin/Erwin - Freeform, Bottom Eren Yeager, College AU, Connie/Sasha - Freeform, Fluff, Jean/Marco - Freeform, M/M, Mikasa/Annie - Freeform, Minor Character Death, Smut, Top Levi (Shingeki no Kyojin), crazy Hanji, sad past, shingeki no kyojin - Freeform
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-08-12
Updated: 2021-02-27
Packaged: 2021-03-05 19:55:45
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 5
Words: 12,964
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25850938
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ash_g_2/pseuds/ash_g_2
Summary: “My mom got me that photo album awhile ago, said to fill it up with ‘memories’ or some shit. They’re blank now though.”“How about we fill them together then?”
Relationships: Levi/Eren Yeager
Comments: 2
Kudos: 27





	1. Chapter 1

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is my first fanfic, I hope you like it!

~Eren POV~

"Eren!"

I groaned and opened my eyes to the bright lights streaming through my half-opened curtains. My head flung to the end of my bed to read the time on my alarm clock. It read 8:30am in bright red letters.

"Fuck you mom I have 30 more minutes!"

She continued to pound on the door, yelling something about 'me getting my lazy ass out of bed' although I couldn't exactly hear her through my sleep deprived thoughts.

Why is it so hard to get some fucking sleep around here?

"Go away!" I yelled as I pressed my pillows over my ears. The door to my bedroom swung open and in walked the devil herself. Carla Jaeger, mom, madre, mother, mama, ma, birth giver, the list goes on and on.

"Eren it's moving day, get your lazy ass up!" She yelled, ripping the covers off of me.

"Nice to see you too, Mom." I breathed out. I snatched the covers back and covered my whole body with it, burying myself into its warmth. You see, today is the day I move out of my house and into the dorms of Sina University. Was I looking forward to it? Hell yeah. Was my mom? Well, from the sound of it, I guess yeah. Who really knows what women are thinking?

The sudden sound of footsteps and a blinding flash of light was enough to snap me out of my thoughts as I hissed at the sudden brightness in the room.

"Yikes."

"Geez, ever heard of privacy? What if I was naked under here?!" I exclaimed.

She just laughed "Oh Eren sweetie, I'm your mother, there's nothing I haven't seen before."

"That's fucking gross."

Mom rolled her eyes and walked over to my now empty shelves and picked up a picture frame. She flipped it around so I was able to take a look at it.

"See? Look at how cute you were as a baby, you had the cutest little bum ever and-"

"Okay! Okay Mom that's enough!" I exclaimed, covering my face in embarrassment.

Mom let out a hearty chuckle and walked toward the door, avoiding the stacks of boxes all over my floor. She stopped at the doorway and turned to me.

"Oi, get dressed and bring some boxes down while I finish making breakfast . Mikasa will be here shortly to pick you up. The sooner you leave, the sooner I get the house to myself."

She gave me one of her blinding smiles and left. I mentally screamed and got out of bed, brushed my teeth, got dressed and grabbed a couple boxes on my way downstairs. As I emerged from the stairwell I caught sight of a familiar raven standing with my mom in the kitchen, her red scarf I gave her years ago still coiled tightly around her neck.

"Good morning Eren." She said, clutching her scarf.

"Ah Eren, Mikasa came here a bit early, so go put those boxes down and sit at the table so we can all have breakfast together again."

I gave Mikasa a quick smile and set the boxes down by the door. I was extremely grateful to have her, we have been best friends ever since we was little and we practically grew up together. She would always keep me from doing stupid things and getting myself hurt, while I would be there for moral support, always being there when she needed comforting or a familiar face. She was the sister that I never had, and I was extremely happy to have her in my life.

Mikasa and I took our places next to each other at the table as my mom set down a plate stacked of chocolate chip pancakes."Special pancakes for a special day.” We both smiled and thanked her as we took a couple pancakes each, with me stuffing my face as soon as they touched my plate.

"So are you both ready to find some cute college boys to mingle with?" Mom asked, casually sipping her tea. Meanwhile I, on the other hand, starting choking on my pancake, Mikasa immediately started patting my back.

"Geez Eren, it was just a question, if you prefer to talk to someone else about your relationships, then thats fine with me I guess," she exclaimed, beginning to stand up.

"No, no mom you just caught me by surprise," I sputtered out.

Yeah, I'm gay, gay as fuck may I add. Both my mom and Mikasa knew and they were the only people in Shiganshina that would EVER know for that matter. Being gay in Shiganshina would mean the whole town knowing, and Shiganshina wasn't exactly the most accepting town. With it being the incredibly small town that it is, means getting judged and stared at, and believe me when I say that a bunch of old people staring at you crossing the street would get annoying real fast. I'm just beyond grateful that they both accepted me. 

I have to say though, I am a bit guilty knowing Mikasa had a crush on me for a couple of years before I came out, but I've only ever seen her as a best friend and sisterly figure.

"Shit!" I turned around to see my mom holding her watch in a panic."It's 9;30am, check-in is at 11 and it's an hour drive to Sina! Mikasa, Eren, grab the rest of your boxes, I'll start the car!" She yelled as she dashed for the keys.

  
"She sure is excited huh?" Mikasa laughed as we lifted my boxes to the car.

"Yeah, to see me go and have the house to herself," I chuckled.

I slightly frowned to myself. My mom has been there for me my whole life. She was able to support the both of us when my dad left us to fend for ourselves when I was 6. He made most of the money in the house as he was a doctor and my mom stayed at home to take care of me. She had to pick up 3 jobs to get back on track after he left and overworked herself. Things finally looked up when I was able to work and provide money as well, but I am forever in her debt. She deserves the world and more, the thought of leaving her alone made me feel uneasy.

  
Mikasa let out a soft laugh and set her share of boxes in the trunk. She suddenly turned to my mom and gave her a huge hug as I set my boxes down as well. "So it's finally time huh?" Mom asked facing towards me now.

  
"I guess," I replied. In all honesty, setting aside the fact that I was leaving my mom, I was ecstatic to finally leave this sorry excuse of a town. Sina University was farther into the city and far more accepting than Shiganshina. 

Mom just gave me a sad smile as I slid into the passenger side seat, Mikasa climbing into the drivers seat beside me. As she started the car I rolled my window down and looked at my mom once again. Tears were welling up in her eyes as she reached over to cup my face in her hands, giving me a parting kiss on my forehead.

"Come back and visit your old mom sometimes okay?” I nodded and gave her my signature smile as Mikasa pulled out of the driveway. I looked back at her, watching her fade into the distance as we drove off.

Goodbye Shiganshina.

_______

The ride to Sina was mostly a comfortable silence, with me sleeping for almost the whole ride mostly being the cause. However, when we were both awake, it was competition after competition to see who could scream anime openings the loudest.

We finally pulled up to the student parking lot at 10:53AM. We checked into our rooms and went our separate ways.

Room 207... room 207... where the fuck is it? 201... 203.. 205.. ah, there it is.

I swiped my key card and entered the compact room. One bed had already been taken and half-unpacked boxes scattered their side of the room.

Looks like my roommate's not here at the moment...shit what's his name again? I looked down at my information sheet.

_Room 207: Armin Arlert/ Eren Jaeger_

Armin Arlert huh? That's a weird name.

I plopped down onto my bed. Both me and Mikasa decided to unpack together so we could get it done quicker. New freshmen had a tour in a couple hours led by some of the upperclassmen, who I didn't exactly feel like getting comfortable with. They were rumored to be complete assholes.

A couple very loud knocks snapped me away from my thoughts. I sighed and opened my door. Mikasa immediately pushed through me and collapsed on my bed. She then grabbed my pillow, took a deep breath and let out a wordless scream.

"Hello to you too," I replied, rolling my eyes and propping myself down on the bed next to her. She rolled onto her back and stared up at the ceiling.

"My roommate is a complete and utter asshat," she said monotonously."Oh yeah? What'd she do?" I asked, intrigued.

Mikasa grabbed my pillow and started punching it. "She's a bitch and I've only met her for 15 minutes max! I entered my room and she goes "oh another fucking Ackerman, just keep out of my way and keep your nose out of my business, got it Ackerman?!" and when I tried to ask her what the fuck she was talking about, she slammed to door in my face!" She finished, chucking my now misshapen pillow across my room.

"Yeesh," I replied. "And don't throw my pillow, or else you're paying for a new one." The raven just rolled her eyes once again and walked over to where the pillow lay. She grabbed it and threw it at my face.  
  


"Gah!" I exclaimed as it harshly made contact with my face. "C'mon, lets unpack your room before the tour," and with that, she flipped her hair and sashayed out.

"Ugh women," I groaned as I attempted to catch up with her.

I quickly ran out of the room and to the student parking lot, where I saw Mikasa picking up most of my boxes in one stack. Sure she looked all sweet and innocent, but I know better than to do anything to mess with her. She sure as hell could send me to heaven and back with one swing, and I haven't done a lot of things on my bucket list yet. That woman is stronger than I'll ever be I'll tell you that.

We began our way back, needing only one trip to the car thanks to Ms.Ackerwoman here. We discussed the tour later today, would our guide be nice? As I began to round the corner I noticed that I wasn't in my right mindset and I felt the two boxes I was holding fly out of my hands as I heard a small thud in front of me. With a small groan, I looked down at my unsuspecting victim, who was on the floor clutching his head.

"Holy shit!" I exclaimed. "I'm so sorry man, here," extending my hand in an attempt tohelp.

"Tch. Freshmen brats should know their place," he said, smacking my hand away and standing up on his own. Only then was I able to get a proper look at him. He was shorter than I expected him to be. Cold, gray eyes met my teal ones. He wore a scowl on his face that surprisingly suited him, and had dark hair styled in a smooth undercut.

"Woah," I gasped out. I felt my eyes widen and quickly smacked my hand over my mouth. The mystery man rolled his eyes and dusted himself off.

"Take a picture kid, it'll last longer." He then stepped over my now spilled belongings and disappeared as he walked around the corner, vanishing as quickly as he appeared.

"What the hell is his problem?" I turned around and saw Mikasa on the floor putting my rearranged goods back into their boxes, an obvious sour expression painted on her face. I shrugged and bent down to help her. We made our way back to my dorm room, the mystery man still remaining on my mind.

Those piercing gray eyes, his pale, soft-looking skin, I wonder if its as soft as it looks...

I can't say I'm not intrigued by him. Don't get me wrong, was he attractive? Fuck yeah. Did I want to get to know him? Probably not. As Mikasa quoted, "he sounded like a complete and utter asshat" But chances are that I won't get to see him again anyway. From the sound of it, it sounded like he was either a junior or a senior.

We entered my room and a tuft of blonde hair caught my eye from over the boxes. I set my boxes down next to my bed and saw a coconut-looking boy reading a book on his bed.

"Armin Arlert, right?" He looked up from his book and nodded, giving me a small smile.

"And you must be Eren Jaeger," I nodded as well. He then turned to Mikasa. "And you?"

"Mikasa Ackerman." Armin's eyes widened, but he must've noticed our confused faces and settled down a bit.

What's up with everyone and Mikasa's name?'

I snapped out of my thoughts when I heard the blonde let out a couple coughs. "Well it's nice to meet both of you, I hope we can be friends!" He exclaimed, flashing a smile that could melt hearts in an instant, his blue eyes shining brightly. 

Cute, but not my type

The three of us talked for a while, with Armin and I helping each other unpack. We learned a few things about each other. Armin was a freshman as well, also participating in the same tour as Mikasa and I.

An hour and a half later we were all unpacked, lucky to have Mikasa's roommate out as the 3 of us unpacked Mikasa's belongings.

We were now walking to our tour destination. There were supposed to be a couple more freshmen in our group, although I wasn't really worried about them. As I said, I was more concerned about the tour guide, most upperclassmen at Sina were known for not being the nicest to incoming freshmen.

As we made our way through the crowd of freshmen, we caught sight of our group. We walked over and a bald-looking man immediately wrapped his arms around me and Armin's necks.

"So you three are the slowpokes we've been waiting for huh?" He said, practically crushing the both of us. We both just smiled and tugged Mr.Baldy's arms away from our shoulders.

"Pfft, could you guys be any slower?"

I whipped my head around and saw a guy with ash blonde hair sprouting out of the top of his head. His face somewhat resembling a horse. No...screw that. He WAS a horse.

"That's a pretty funky looking face you got there horsey, what stable'd you come from?" I asked, folding my arms, a small smirk forming on my face.

"Eren please don-"

"WHAT THE HELL'D YOU SAY?"

"I said, THATS A PRETTY FUNKY LOOKING FACE HORSEY! WHAT STABLE'D YOU COME FROM?!" I yelled, cupping my hands to form a megaphone.

"YOU BITCH, TAKE THAT BACK THIS INSTANT!"

"WHY WOULD I TAKE BACK THE TRUTH?"

"Jean sto-"

"SHUT UP MARCO STAY OUT OF IT."

"Hey man, calm your horseshoes, your saddle might fall off."

"YOU PUNK-"

"Tch. Freshmen these days are so immature."

I slowly turned to see the source of the deep voice, and once again, teal eyes were met with icy-silver ones.

"Oh, we meet again, hallway kid."


	2. Chapter 2

~Eren POV~

I felt my jaw drop as I stared at the guy from earlier.

"Y-You!"

The shorter man just furrowed his eyebrows and turned to face the rest of the group.

"Listen up brats, the name's Levi, I'll be your tour guide. I'm going to be setting some ground rules here. No speaking unless you are spoken to. Interrupt me and you won't live to see tomorrow. Don't ask questions because I honestly couldn't care less and I won't bother to answer them. And most importantly, keep up and don't fucking get lost. I don't want to have to search for your annoying asses because you were too slow and couldn't keep up. The only reason I'm even doing this stupid tour is for extra credit anyway. Don't make this any harder than it needs to be."

And with that, he turned around and started walking, motioning his hand for us to follow.

Goddamn, someone woke up on the wrong side of the bed today.

We started walking, with this 'Levi' guy showing us almost every inch of campus. Sina University was a very large area, with giant classrooms and many courtyards. Nobody except Levi said a single word throughout the entire tour, mostly in fear of the scary dwarf in front of them. Well, except for Mikasa of course. I swear the one time I glanced over, she looked about ready to strangle the guy.

"Alright newbies that's all, I'm going to be heading out. See you guys around, hopefully not though. Freshmen annoy me."

"So what's your deal with freshmen anyway, midget man?" The words came out of my mouth before I even realized what I said and I quickly clamped my hands over my mouth.

Shit, shit, shit, shit, shit

Levi slowly turned his head around and I swear I saw murder flash through those eyes of his.

"Good luck man," I heard the horseface guy say as him and the rest of the group walked away. Only me, Mikasa and Armin remained.

"What the fuck did you just call me?" He asked, grabbing me by the collar of my shirt.

"Hey, umm... he didn't mean anything by it... we're truly sorry so-" I turned to see a trembling Armin.

"Shut up blondie, speak without permission again and I'll make you eat shit from the toilets."

Armin's eyes widened and he sunk back, clutching his shaking arms as I saw him bite his lip and turn away. Mikasa walked up to Levi and grabbed his wrist, which was still gripped tightly on my collar.

"Let him go, dwarf."

Levi scoffed, "As you wish," he threw me at Mikasa, she caught me by my shoulders as I struggled to regain my balance. By now, there was a small crowd of people around us, phones out and most likely recording video after video, most likely expecting a fight of some sort. I could hear some of them whispering to each other, shared with a couple of snickers.

"I wonder if Levi will hurt those kids too."

"Dang, he doesn't know when to stop does he?"

"Who cares, these are fun to watch!"

"You hear what he did last year?"

"Those poor kids..."

"Yeah, I wouldn't want to be the poor fellas currently friends with him."

"Does he even have any?"

"Hahahaha!"

I glanced at Levi, who now had a more dejected look on his face.

Were these people talking about Levi? What happened? Is it something bad? Why does he look so upset now...?

I felt a firm hand clamp onto the end of my shoulder and spin me around. "Let's go back to you and Armin's," Mikasa said. I nodded and turned to walk away from the scene.

"Sorry."

I quickly spun around. To my dismay, I saw Levi walking away from me, his back turned.

Was he the one who said that?

I sighed and followed Mikasa back to our dorm room, the murmurs from the remaining crowd still remaining in my ears.

"Damn it, I was expecting Levi to pick another fight. Y'know how many new likes and followers I could've gotten if I recorded one of his fights?"

"Yeah, Levi never lets a fight go unfinished."

"Maybe he's in a bad mood?"

"Dumbass, he's always in a bad mood."

I shook my head and tried to block out all the voices around me. Eventually, we reached me and Armin's room and we all collapsed onto the beds.

"Well that was a fun first day,". I said sarcastically. Mikasa punched me in the arm.

We all chatted for a while, mostly about the day's events, then turning to random topics. Mikasa and I also got to know Armin a bit more. We only knew each other for a couple hours, but we all talked as if we have known each other for years. We knew he was a good kid, and established the fact that we were all already friends.

"I think I'm going to rest in my room, I'm beat." I heard Mikasa say. "If I'm lucky, I won't have to see BlondieMcBitch there.''

I laughed and Mikasa left the room. Armin and I made small talk for a while before determining that its best to get some rest as well.

Sleep just couldn't come to be though. Soft snores coming from the blonde next to me filled the room. I twisted myself on my side and suddenly an image of Levi popped into my mind.

His gray, piercing eyes, the way his raven colored hair was parted and looked soft to touch, the paleness of this skin, the way his mouth moves when he talks, and his pink lips...they looked so soft, I wonder what It'd feel like to ki-

No, no, no! Bad Eren! I thought as I vigorously shook my head.

He's a jerk, you saw what he did today...

But what if he's not?

Shut up! He is!

I groaned and smushed my pillow onto my face.

Stupid internal monologue.

I stopped smothering myself with my pillow and stared at the ceiling for a bit before feeling the heaviness in my eyes take over.

Levi... who are you?

* * * *

The first week of school went by pretty quickly, and I haven't seen Levi anywhere. I wasn't exactly looking for him, per se... just maybe being more aware of my surroundings in case he happened to show up.

"Aye! Gayger!"

I whipped my head around and saw Jean waving his hand in front of my face like a maniac. Remember the horseface from the tour a week back? Yeah, well that's Jean. Pretty fitting name for a horse dontcha think?

Him and I have been placed in many classes together, forcing us to socialize, along with a couple other people that I recognized from the tour. Remember the baldy who almost strangled me and Armin? Turns out his name is Connie. I also recognized his girlfriend, Sasha. She's mostly chill, except for the fact that she never lets me finish my french fries before grabbing them and stuffing them in her mouth. Lastly, there's Jean's roommate, Marco. Marco was the type of person who you couldn't hate. Kind to everyone and liked by all.

I figured him and Jean got some shit going on, I mean, I could visibly see the daggers in Jean's eyes whenever someone would sit too close or talk too much to the boy. He obviously liked him, his attempts to hide it failing, with almost everyone knowing except the freckled boy and horseface himself. Although I'd never say it, they'd make a cute couple.

"What!?" I asked, ignoring the stupid nickname given to me.

"The gang's gonna meet in Courtyard 3 for lunch today instead of Courtyard 2. Unless you wanna keep daydreaming about your non-existent boyfriend in this cooped up classroom, then be my guest," Jean said, walking off.

With a roll of my eyes, I gathered my things and went to my dorm room.

* ****** 

I've never been to Courtyard 3 before, or even been to this side of campus really. You see, Sina University had a total of 5 courtyards, where students usually mingled during lunch or whenever they had free time. There were usually many plants with many benches and park tables to use. Me and the rest of the gang usually sat at Courtyard 2 because of the pond (which usually inhabited a couple of ducks swimming in it) that was located next to a cluster of park benches. I had no idea why we suddenly decided to move to Courtyard 3, but I didn't particularly care.

Shit, shit, shit, shit, shit

I was currently running to Courtyard 3, 9 minutes late from our meeting time. I finally reached the giant boulder with 3 engraved on it, and saw a pretty lively Sasha waving from a table. I hurried over and saw no ponds, but many large trees scattered throughout the area.

As I was looking around, I caught sight of a man sitting under a tree by himself, book in his lap with a cigarette hanging loosely from his lips. He seemed pretty invested in his book, with his hair falling over his face, so I couldn't get a clear view. However, with his shiny black undercut, and pale skin, I couldn't help but sense that I'd seen him before. I turned back toward my friends and shrugged it off, maybe it'd come back to me later.

"Staring at tree man?" I heard a voice say. I looked over and saw Jean staring at me, arms crossed with a smirk inching across his face.

"I have no idea what you're talking about,"

"Psh, yeah right, as if you weren't making goo-goo eyes at him just a couple seconds ago."

I rolled my eyes and sat down next to Armin and Mikasa. The way I was positioned gave me a clear view of the man under the tree. He was still looking down, smoking the death stick and focusing on the thick book in his lap.

"Eren." EREN!"

I shook my head and turned my head to the left, I could see that Armin was trying to tell me something, unfortunately, I clearly wasn't focused and missed what he was trying to say.

"Oh...uh, yeah, sorry Armin, I just blanked for a second there..."

Jean raised his eyebrows and turned to where I was looking at, then turning around and hitting me with a subtle smirk. I shot him a glare and the ash-blonde just shrugged and gave me an 'I told you so' look before wrapping an arm around Marco's shoulders and laughing.

Armin gave me a small nod and soft smile before turning away to talk to Connie instead.

I turned back to the tree again, the man was now looking up towards the sky, arms behind his head and his cigarette between his fingertips.

As he stared at the man in front of him, I suddenly felt my chest tighten and found myself unable to tear my gaze away from him. Of course I recognized the man as Levi. The man who ran through his mind like a broken record on repeat from the past week.

As I looked at the raven, I noticed how calm and collected he seemed. If I had to describe the peaceful looking man in front of me in just a couple words, I'd have to say Levi looked serene. The way the shorter man's chest slowly rises and fell as his silver-gray eyes looked up at the sky gave me a strange sense of peace and tranquility, despite Levi's rough and tough exterior. At that moment, Levi was serene.

As I snapped out of his thoughts, I saw that Levi had now switched positions. He was now staring right at me, his narrow, piercing, gray orbs catching my bright, teal ones. They say that eyes are the windows to the soul, well I definitely felt that in that moment, Levi saw right through mine. 

I don't know if I believe in love at first sight, because technically, this wasn't my first time meeting Levi. I do however, had a gut feeling that I would definitely be seeing the shorter man more in the future.

The weight of the bench under me shifted and I broke the little staring contest we were doing. I looked around and saw my friends getting up and packing their things.

"Hey, where are we going? We just got here," I questioned.

Everyone gave me confused looks.

"Eren, we've been here for 45 minutes already. We're all done eating." Marco said with a smile.

"Oh."

"Eren, are you alright? You've been spacing out the whole time and you haven't even touched your lunch," Mikasa asked, walking up to me and placing her hand on my shoulder.

"I'm alright 'Kasa, I'm just not hungry."

She didn't look entirely convinced but shrugged it off anyways, it was hard to get away with things with Mikasa.

Sasha grabbed my sandwich and chips as Connie walked up next to her and tilted his head toward me.

"Anyways man, since you were obviously engrossed in your own little world, you probably didn't hear what we said. We were all planning to head off to Jean and Marco's for a while before evening classes start, you comin or naw?" He asked, smacking my back.

I turned my attention towards Levi. His focus was now fixated on his book. I wanted to talk to him, find out what kind of a person he was, and maybe ask him about what people were muttering about that day.

"Umm, you guys go on ahead... I'll be there in a bit."

Mikasa gave me a questioning look, but didn't ask about it. Jean must've seen me stealing glances at the raven, because I was suddenly pulled aside and given some advice on the situation.

"Talk to him before it's too late, you can try to fool everyone else and even yourself, but you sure as hell can't fool me, Gayger." And with that he gave me a 'good luck' thumbs up and ran over to where the rest of the gang was by the door. The all gave me a wave before heading out to Jean and Marco's dorm room.

I sighed and looked over at the man sitting under the tree. He then swiftly turned his head so that he once again was staring at me.

"Well? What're you doing over there? I thought you were gonna talk to me or some shit."


	3. Chapter 3

~Eren POV~

"Y-You heard all of that?"

Levi raised his eyebrows at me and closed his book.

"I don't know how you couldn't, you and your friend are louder than you think, Gayger."

"W-What?! C'mon we weren't THAT loud were we?" I asked, taking a seat next to him under the tree.

"'You were actually, if I recall correctly, it was something along the lines of 'talk to him before it's too late, you can try to fool everyone and yourself, but you sure as hell can't fool me, Gayger.'

I just stared at him with wide eyes. Levi sighed and looked up at the sky.

"Or something like that...so is that your actual name, kid?

"Huh?"

"Gayger. Is that your actual name?" He asked, tilting his head at me.

"W-What? Of course not, just a stupid nickname given to me by a horse... I'm Eren Jaeger."

"'Eren Gayger."

I groaned and shook my head as I dragged my fingers across my face.

"Jae-ger. Like Yay-Gur... Jae-ger."

Levi let out a soft chuckle and closed his eyes. He put his arms behind his head and leaned back onto the tree.

"I know kid, I'm just messing with you."

There was a comfortable silence as he looked up calmly at the sky. I used this time to observe him better up close. He was wearing a sleek leather jacket and tight-fitting jeans. His soft-looking hair parted slightly on his left side, I wondered how it would feel to just run my hands along the shaved part of his undercut. His eyes were open slightly, they looked relaxed, with slight crow's lines near the edges of his eyes. His pink lips were parted very slightly, and I also noticed that he had a very sharp jawline, possibly sharp enough to cut vegetables.

Damn...

"Soo... what's your favorite color?" I asked.

Levi turned his face towards me and gave me an expression that screamed 'Why the fuck are you asking me such a stupid question.' He just sighed and replied.

"Black."

"Favorite food?"

"Rice."

"Favorite drink?"

"Black tea."

"Favorite movie?"

"I hate movies."

"What?! Who doesn't like movies?"

Levi narrowed his eyes at me and gave me a hard glare, that immediately told me to shut up. I gulped and leaned back as I watched him pull out a pack of cigarettes from his leather jacket and light it. He took a long drag before slowly exhaling, a giant puff of smoke covering the area around us, making me cough uncontrollably for a couple of seconds.

"Oi, brat, if you can't stand the smoke then leave," Levi said, not bothering to make eye contact with me.

*Cough* n-no *cough cough* I-I'm fine *cough*

He turned away and took another drag of his cigarette.

"If you say so."

We sat there for a couple minutes in silence, with Levi taking more puffs of his death stick, clouding up the space around us.

"'L-Levi?"

"Hm?"

"Why do you smoke?"

"'That's none of your concern."

I sighed and moved so I was directly in front of him.

"Smoking's really bad for you Levi, you shouldn't smoke as much, it can really damage your immune system."

Levi furrowed his eyebrows and wore a more irritated expression.

"I'm serious! Smoking could lead to lung cancer, which could eventually lead to you being hospitalized and then death, hear that? You could die."

"Why'd you think I'm doing it in the first place then?" Levi replied.

I shut my mouth quickly. Once again there was a wave of silence upon us and I remembered the question I was going to ask the older man. I remembered what happened a couple days ago, the voices of the people around me talking simultaneously.

_"I wonder if Levi will hurt those kids too."_

_"Dang he doesn't know when to stop does he?"_

_"You hear what he did last year?"_

_"Those poor kids."_

"Levi? What were people talking about last week? What happened last year?"

Levi's eyes widened as he quickly turned his head towards me. He remained silent for a moment but scoffed. "Listen kid, I don't know why the hell you're so interested in my life, but it's best you stay out of it if you know what's best for you. I'm sure you've heard the rumors by now, so I'd recommend staying away," he replied, standing up.

"W-Wait Levi!" I cried, grabbing his sleeve.

"Brat! What the fuck are you doing? Let go!" He yelled, ripping his arm away from my grasp, his voice filled with hatred. His once calm eyes were now filled with anger and... fear?

"Listen to me! I just wanted to talk!"

"Psh. Yeah right, you wanted to be 'buddies' right? You wanted to know what truly happened and laugh in my face while spreading more rumors about me. I'm not stupid, Gayger. I've met shitheads like you. I'm not looking for 'friends' and I'm not looking for more people to "get to know me". Stay away and don't talk to me if you know what good for you," Levi said harshly, before stomping on his cigarette and walking out of the courtyard, out of my sight.

What the fuck just happened? What are the rumors about? Can someone tell me what's going on?

I shook my head vigorously before standing up and heading to my dorm room. I was definitely in no mood to go to Jean and Marco's now. As soon as I unlocked the door and stepped inside, I collapsed on my bed. My head hit my pillow and I immediately heard all the voices and murmurs fill my head once more.

"Ughhhhh," I lifted my pillow from my head and threw it at my door.

Maybe I could ask Armin what happened with Levi when he gets back, he must know something.

* * * * * *

"Huh? Levi? You mean the tour guide we had? That Levi?"

I nodded at the confused looking boy in front of me. "What do you know about him?"

Armin threw his arms up and shook his head. "I've never seen this guy around or heard too much about him, I've mostly been focusing on my studies and trying to pass Mr.Pyxis' tests, but based on the reactions by everyone else during *ehem* what happened last week, he seems to be fairly popular... in a twisted sort of way..." he said, trailing out his last sentence. "Why do you ask?"

"No particular reason..." I replied, resting my chin on my palm. I don't know if I was ready to talk to anyone about my conversation with Levi, although I know I'm bound to tell at least Jean about it since he was the one who recommended to talk to him in the first place. But other than him, I'd have to wait a while.

Armin raised his eyebrow, probably questioning my answer, but didn't further investigate, much to my relief. I sighed and stood from my current position on my bed.

"I'm heading over to Mikasa's, wanna come with?"

Armin smiled and nodded his head slowly. We both made our way over to the girls dormitory building. However, as we reached the hallway to Mikasa's room, distant screams and yells could slowly become audible, enhancing as we drew closer to the raven's room, echoing throughout the entire floor.

"'Ugh are those two at it again?"

I turned and saw a tall brunette with freckles leaning on a doorway, arms crossed, with an obvious scowl across her face.

"Well, those two don't get along very well do they?" A blonde haired girl replied, laughing as she suddenly appeared behind the taller female. The brunette shook her head and sighed before turning to go back into the room.

"We should seriously file a noise complaint, Christa. If Mikasa and Annie don't shut the fuck up soon, I'm seriously gonna lose my shit," she said, shutting the door behind the two.

So it's Mikasa and her roommate huh? Can't say I'm surprised with how much she told me about her.

Armin and I proceeded to walk to Mikasa and her roommate's room, which we now learned was named Annie. As we walked closer and closer to our designated location, the yells got louder. I swear I heard something crash, and from the sound of it, it sounded like chaos at its finest. We stopped in front of their door and I immediately covered my ears.

How do their neighbors endure this everyday? Their eardrums must've shattered by now.

I turned to look at Armin and oh boy, the poor child looked scared out of his mind. His legs were shaking and his eyes were widened larger than what I thought was possible. I raised my fist to knock on the door when it suddenly swung open, revealing a pretty angry-looking blond. Her hair was put up into a now falling bun, her blue eyes were scrunched up and a sour expression took shelter on her face.

The two of us looked at each other in fear and awe as she pushed past us and stormed down the hallway. We stepped into the room and saw belongings sprawled everywhere. Mikasa was pacing back and forth across the trashed room, hands balled into fists, with steam practically shooting out of her ears.

Fuck... its never a good idea to approach Mikasa when she's mad, I don't know if I'll come out of this alive... maybe I should grab Armin and ru-

"Eren!"

"YES MA'AM!"

Mikasa groaned and sat down on her bed, burying her head into her palms. "I said I don't know what to do with Annie, she blows up whenever I slip up at the slightest and never listens to what I say, she just throws constant insults at me. She calls me "'another fucking Ackerman" and starts yelling for god knows what."

Armin and I looked at each other and sat down on either sides of the poor raven, comforting her the best we can.

"Maybe you should request a room transfer, Mikasa, I'm sure they'll understand," Armin spoke up.

"Yeah..."

I got up and stood in front of Mikasa, removing her hands and holding them in my own. She looked up at me with wide eyes, a soft pink hue dusting her cheeks. Mikasa was like a sister to me. I've considered her as a part of my family for a long time now, and I'll be damned if I let anyone hurt my family. I pulled her onto her feet and let go of her hands.

"Listen, who cares about BlondieMcBitch anyways?"

"Eren..." Armin started.

"No seriously? Who does this bitch think she is?"

"Eren I really think you should-"

"Wait Armin. Listen Mikasa, Annie's just a-"

"Hm? What am I?"

Shit.

I froze in my spot, not daring to look at the obviously pissed-off sounding blonde standing in the doorway. Annie slammed the door behind her and sat on her bed, the sudden slam of the door making poor Armin squeak.

"On second thought, I might just stay here, I don't necessarily like when people talk shit behind my back," she said, crossing her arms and shooting me a piercing glare.

I shivered as goosebumps suddenly popped up onto my forearms. That glare reminded me of a certain raven-haired man, except Levi's glare was more sexy than threatening. It suited him, with his stoic expression and all, he made it work. Annie was just scary.

Speaking of...

"Hey Annie?"

She whipped her head around to face me, her fury still showing on her face, making Eren cower back a little.

"Uhm.. you're a sophomore right?"

Annie raised her eyebrow and crossed her legs. "Yeah..."

"So you know some of the upperclassmen right?"

"Yes kid, now spill it, what the hell do you want. You're wasting my time."

"Uhm... do you happen to know anyone by the name Levi?"

“...”

Annie's eyes widened. She sunk her head down, casting an eerie shadow across her face. Her usual unhappy and salty expression turned grim, and I heard her teeth clamp shut, grinding them.

"...get out."

"Wha-"

"Both of you get out right now." She said, turning to me and Armin. "You too Ackerman, before I lose my shit."

Mikasa sprung up from her seat and stood in front of Annie, the blonde following her actions. They were inches away from each other, puffing out their chests, trying to out-intimidate the other. Poor Armin looked scared shitless and looked like he was about to piss himself at any moment.

"You have no right to talk to Eren like that!"

"Oh yeah, watch me, Ackerman." She picked up a book off the nightstand and flung it at the wall next to Mikasa. The ravenette quickly sprung into action, grabbing a picture frame and flinging it at the blonde. It missed and hit the wall with a loud crash.

Holy fucking shit

Armin and I leaped into action, Armin taking hold of Mikasa's wrists while I struggled to hold Annie back. It took a few minutes and a few encouraging words from Armin,but the two females finally stopped their fit. Annie tore herself from my grasp and kneeled down next to the pieces of broken glass. She picked up and turned over the photograph from the floor and looked carefully at it, her gaze suddenly softening.

"They're gone..." was all she said, as she clutched the photo tighter in her palms.

Armin took a seat next to her on the floor, with me following shortly, standing on the other side of the female. The picture she was holding was of three happy looking individuals, one of which I identified as Annie. There were two taller males on either sides of the girl, a very tall, slender brunette was holding up a peace sign, smiling brightly. The other was a shorter but much more muscular blonde, despite his rough and tough build, he wore a genuine smile. However what surprised me the most was the fact that Annie had her arms wrapped around both their necks and was smiling. I haven't known Annie for long, but I can tell that smiles coming from her were rare, but when they came, they were bright and heart filling. I just got that kind of vibe from her. I guess you can say I'm good at reading people.

"They're gone and he took them away from me."

'What do you mean Annie?" I asked.

She wasn't able to say anything else as Mikasa pulled us both away and took a seat next the now teary-eyed girl.

"Look, I don't know what happened to your friends, but uhm..." she scratched the back of her head and looked down. "If you ever wanna talk, I'm your fucking roommate okay? So... just know I'm here, alright? Uhm... I don't exactly wanna fight anymore either... I need to pay for a lot of broken things, and that not exactly helping my wallet..." she said, muttering the last part.

Annie turned to look at the taller girl beside her, her blue eyes widening slightly. "Yeah, uhm... I'd like that." She replied looking down a little, light pink dusting her cheeks. 

I heard a small "aww" come from Armin and I let out a couple coughs, trying to break the silence settling among us.

"So Annie, if you don't mind me asking... Levi... was he the one who *ehem* 'took away' you friends?"

There was a small moment of silence before she responded.

"Yeah... they're gone... and it's all Levi Ackerman's fault."


	4. Chapter 4

~Eren POV~

"Please Armin?"

About 5 weeks have passed since our interaction in Mikasa's room. The two aren't exactly the best of friends , but they have definitely gotten closer and have stopped fighting as much. Halloween was about a week from now and I was currently trying to convince Armin to accompany me to a Halloween party that Jean invited me to. Apparently he became "popular" with the upperclassmen after he and Connie supplied them with some weed at another party two weeks ago. I refused to go to said party, in fear that I might see Levi there, but Jean confirmed that the raven wasn't in sight during the whole thing. Make sense. Why would someone as isolated and socially dead as Levi Ackerman go to a loud, crowded dorm party?

But hey, don't get me wrong, I'm not trying to avoid him or anything, it's quite the opposite actually. Levi intrigues me. He's the mysterious type. The type of person that just catches your attention with just one glance, but if I was going to talk and get to know him, it wouldn't be at a stupid party with drunk college kids sucking each other's faces off wherever you turn.

_"They're all gone... and its all Levi Ackerman's fault."_

Of course I haven't forgotten Annie's words from back then either, how could I? I still don't have all (or any) of the details though, as Annie went completely silent after that, and both Armin and I decided it would be best not to push it, taking our leave a bit later.

"No Eren, I told you I'm not going to that stupid Halloween party," the blonde said, keeping his eyes focused on a book.

I groaned and dragged my fingers across my face. "C'monn Armin we need this! Do you seriously want to be cooped up in your room with a book as your life partner forever?"

"That would be ideal, yes."

I rolled my eyes and jumped onto his lap and his book. "Please Armin?"

"No."

"Pleasee Armin?"

"Eren, no."

"Eren, yes."

"I said no."

"PleasePleasePleasePleasePleas-"

"no."

"Arminnnnn did I ever tell you you're my best friendddd?"

"I know already."

"Arminnn pleaseee?"

"OK OK EREN I'LL DO TO THE GODDAMN PARTY,"

I pumped my fist into the air and rolled off his lap. "One down, one more to go." Armin rolled his blue eyes and kicked me off his bed. "You're buying my lunch for this later by the way,"

"Yeah, yeah whatever," I replied, ruffling his hair. "Never thought I'd see the day you'd curse though, my sweet coconut."

Armin crossed his arms and stuck his bottom lip out a little, pouting. "What's that supposed to mean?"

I let out a small chuckle and leaned back onto the edge of the bed. "Oh nothing..."

******

A week went by faster than I expected, with all of the studying and stupid college work I've been doing, a party was exactly what I needed.

"Hey Ar, look alive," I said, tossing him his green tshirt. He caught it (with his face) and thanked me before slipping it over his bare chest.

I adjusted my ears after slipping on my own red shirt with a giant yellow 'A' on the front. Yeah, it's exactly what you're thinking. Me, Mika and Armin were going as Alvin and the Chipmunks, and I have Armin to thank for that. Mikasa got excited and thought it was a good idea as well, and before I knew it, I got pulled into their little scheme as well.

The door swung open and in walked the said ravenette. Her blue, oversized shirt hung loosely around her torso, with fairly large fake glasses perched at the bridge of her nose, along with one of our matching chipmunk ears settled on her head.

"Hurry up ladies, we don't have all night," she exclaimed. I rolled my eyes and adjusted my ears before walking out with Mikasa and Armin. As we entered the hallway of the dorm the party was held in, we could already hear the thumping and beat of the music vibrating throughout the floor.

Damn...

Our trio entered and found ourselves awkwardly standing by the drink table for a while, clutching our red cups closely to our chests. I didn't go to many parties as a high schooler, it was always Mikasa who dragged me to them, and I felt very socially awkward and ended up leaving early anyways.

Mikasa groaned and chucked her empty cup in the garbage. "I'm going to see if Annie's here. You guys suck ass," she said, adjusting her glasses.

Armin giggled as she walked away. So much for Alvin, Simon and Theodore...

"Ayeee! Gaygurrrr," Jean babbled, running up to Armin and I. Well, more like staggering. I don't know how he can get so wasted so quickly, the party just started and it was only 10:45 P.M.

He wrapped his arms around our necks and pulled us close. I could smell his nasty booze smelling breath wafting from his mouth. It took almost all of my energy to not throw up all over his cape.

Disgusting

"Hhhheyy Uhrrminnn, hheyoo Geygurr! Where'z Marcooo? I want sum freckled azz."

"Goddamn Horseface how much did you drink?" I asked, holding my nose and ripping myself away from his grasp.

"I didn't eveen dreenk Gaygurr, Cooonie said that the beer was swapped with vodka by some chick with glassess but i dont knowww man."

Armin sighed and pried Jeans arm off of my neck before steadying the drunken boy against him. "I'm going to go find Marco, hopefully he can fix Jean before he starts acting stupid and begins to dry hump random people."

"I'm not stoopeeed! Me no like Uhrminn anymore. Uhrmiinnn mean. Me want hot freckle boy."

"Uhrmin" rolled his eyes and smiled apologetically before walking himself and Jean into the crowd in search of said "freckle hot boy."

I grunted in disapproval and refilled my cup with booze and chugged it all down, in the process I could feel my throat burn as the bitter liquid made it's way down my throat. Jean and Marco were practically together now. I wonder how it would be kissing a guy. Would it feel different than kissing a girl? I've kissed a couple in my high school days, but just didn't get why people enjoyed it so much. I never enjoyed looking at boobs when I watched porn either, and I knew I was gay when I found myself staring at Marlowe Freudenberg's abs when we were changing for gym class in sophomore year, but he wasn't gay, his girlfriend Hitch proved that. It's hard enough finding people who would bother liking me, now I've made it even harder by liking guys. Way to go Eren, you're just asking yourself to be single forever at this point.

I refilled the cup a second time, a third time, and a fourth time. I just finished downing my fifth cup, trying to reach for the ladle, but my eyesight had gone out the window at this point.

One ladle... two ladles... three ladles... Why are there three ladles? Maybe there are three drinks. I kinda wanna try them all. Wait there was only one a couple minutes ago though... maybe it was magic! Ha, I knew it was real. Connie owes me $10. Fuck I need to pee.

I stumbled around the room, trying to find the bathroom, only to find myself opening every door in the place with no avail. I mentally slapped myself and sighed, walking towards the last possible door it could've been.

"J-Jean!"

"Fuck yeah Marco, just like that."

"A-AAHH RIGHT THERE!"

"Shit Marco."

Apparently I can't assess situations fast enough until I'm actually in them. I stood in the doorway, staring at the scene unfold in front of me, my drunk ass apparently not processing the visual ahead. "Holy shit Gayger!" Jean yelled, pulling out as fast as he could, scrambling to cover himself and the freckled boy. Marco's eyes widened underneath Jean, his face bright red as he tried to cover himself up with blankets as best as he could. By the time I processed what was going on, the edges of my mouth had been pulled into an all-knowing smirk, leaning against the doorframe with my arms crossed smugly.

"Okay Marcooo get some."

Marco turned the brightest possible red I could imagine, covering his face with the blanket shyly. 

"GET OUT!!" Jean yelled abruptly, throwing a pillow at me while I laughed, shutting the door behind them.

Seems like Jean isn't drunk anymore. I knew they were gonna fuck sooner or later.. that was kind hot. Maybe we could have a threesome or something. AHhh fuck, what did I wanna do again? oh yea I need to take a leak.

I drunkenly wandered around, the pumping and beat of the freakishly loud music vibrating through my heart.

Shit... my head hurts like hell, I'm out of here.

I grabbed another cup of booze on the way, and saw myself out of the large room, aiming to go back to my own dorm. As I walked, a sudden thought hit me.

...where even is my dorm... shit I can't remember.

As I drunkenly staggered across the hallway and turned the corner, I immediately found myself colliding with someone.

My drink flew out of my hands and spilled all over the mystery man.

"Do we always have to crash into each other whenever we meet, or do you just enjoy spilling your things all over the hallway floor?"

Fuck, fuck, fuck. I know that voice... I'm too drunk to face him now though...

I slowly looked up, and I saw those same icy-silver eyes that had left me under that tree five weeks ago. As I made eye contact with him, I suddenly found myself unable to look away. The man kept his gaze fixated on me as well, although his was more confused rather than amazed. We stayed like that for a few awkward moments before Levi sighed and clicked his tongue, looking down at his now stained shirt.

"Tch stupid brat, I'm soaked," Levi said.

"Sorrryyy.." I dragged, holding my aching head.

Levi scoffed and crossed his arms across his chest. "You're even drunk, aren't you? No doubt you went to Erwin's stupid Halloween party, I bet that damn shitty glasses even poisoned the drinks. I was actually on my way there right now, not that I really had a choice."

"Yeah, yeah whatever," I replied, attempting to steady myself against the wall.

"Psh, that also explains the getup. What're you supposed to be? A rat?" He asked, flicking one of my fake ears.

"I'm Aalveen! Have you never heard of Alveeen and the Cheepmonkss?" I slurred. "Or are you too old for that, Mr.IHhateFreshmen?"

The raven let out a low chuckle,"so that's what you're supposed to be? Where are your little minions then?"

I groaned and looked him dead in the eyes and said, "Theodore helped my wasted friend, who I later caught having sex with his boyfriend, and Simon disappeared to god knows where."

"..."

"Yeah, it wasn't the most pleasant experience for me either," I said.

"Tch, looks like you can't even hold your alcohol can you, brat?"

I rolled my eyes and started walking down the hall, ignoring his painfully obvious comment, using the wall for balance. My eyes suddenly thought it was a good idea to stop working because as I lazily looked ahead of me, I saw three identicalhallways, and the ground started moving.

"Woah, woah, woah!" I yelled, tripping over my own feet. I face planted onto the floor, and I could hear faint snickers behind me, along with very enhanced footsteps approaching me. I hissed in pain and covered my ears as he stuck out his hand in an attempt to help me up. My eyes, however, were absolutely no help as I reached for the two other imaginary hands Levi held out. He rolled his eyes and grabbed my hand with his, while using his other to help me up at my waist. Levi slung my arm around his shoulders and neck, while he steadied his other arm around my waist.

"You're a lost cause," he sighed. "What dorm you in?"

"Uhh...270... no wait 720... or was it 702...?"

Levi let out another click of his tongue and stopped walking. He looked like he was deep in his thoughts, thinking about something.

"Leeeeviiii, why'd we stoppp?"

He gave me a sharp glare and I immediately shut up. The raven sighed and looked away, "I know I'm going to seriously regret this, but you can stay in my dorm until you sober up."

Huh?

"Excuse me, what?"

"Tch damn brat, you heard me, I'm not repeating it," he replied as he continued walking.

"Yayyy! Sleepover at Levi's!"

Levi growled, "Like hell it is kid, if you end up being this loud when we get there I'll kick your ass out in five seconds flat, you hear?"

I nervously nodded, he let out an approving grunt and we stayed silent, quietly walking towards his dorm room, mostly because I was scared of what he would do if I talked now. Once we were standing outside of his door, he grabbed my shoulders so that we were looking straight at each other. I felt my face flush and heat up as I felt our noses slightly brush.

Too close Too close Too close

"If you make a mess or touch my cleaning supplies I will personally end you."

I gulped and formed a military salute with my right hand, "Y-yes sir."

Levi nodded in approval before slowly opening his door. I gasped and looked inside the VERY well polished room. Everything was so shiny, it was if Mr.Clean himself came to life and cleaned Levi's dorm inside out.

"Wheee!" I exclaimed, running and collapsing on the raven's neatly made bed.

"Shitty brat! What'd I just tell you?!"

I laughed and clutched one of his pillows to my chest. It smelled like him, a strong scent of men's cologne, but not too much that it was suffocating and stung your nose. I can imagine waking up to this scent every morning, that thought only making me hold the pillow closer to my nose.

I heard Levi scoff at me for like the fiftieth time today as he pulled a pair of pajama bottoms and boxers from the dresser. "Stay right here brat, thanks to you, I'm all disgusting and sticky from that disgusting alcohol. I'm going to take a shower and DON'T YOU DARE MAKE A MESS," he said, his eyes shooting daggers at mine. I saluted him again and he mumbled something about me being a dork before closing the bathroom door behind him.

Levi came out a couple minutes later, wearing his pajama bottoms loosely around his waist revealing his V-line, while rubbing a towel through his wet hair. I found myself gawking at his VERY built chest. A 6-pack settled very nicely on his torso, paired nicely with some raging biceps and strong forearms.

God fucking damn, its like he's built by the gods himself. I wouldn't mind walking into class tomorrow in some crutches...

I groaned and used the pillow to cover my obviously flushed face from the man in front of me.

"Ok brat, get off the bed before you puke all over it," Levi yelled, nudging my shoulder.

"Nooo, izz very comfyy."

Levi grabbed his pillow off of my face and looked down at me, his bangs falling sexily across his forehead as he grunted and pushed me to the edge of the bed.

"Stay on your own end shithead. If you puke or come anywhere near my side I'll make you sleep on the floor."

"Yessss Captainnn," I slurred, saluting him.

"Stop doing that, it's weird," he said, scrunching his nose a bit.

He grabbed a textbook and glasses case of of the nightstand, slipping the glasses on while climbing into bed, sitting up straight next to me and opening the textbook. "Go to sleep kid, or else you'll have a hell of a hangover tomorrow morning."

"You're not gonna sleep? And since when do you wear glassessss?"

Levi let out a snort, continuing to read. "I don't sleep, that's all you need to know, I've also always worn glasses, so don't act like you know me," his voice turning sour.

Nodding nervously, I layed down on my side, facing away from him, all while slowly letting sleep consume me...


	5. Chapter 5

~Eren's POV~

I sat in Courtyard 3 once again, but this time without the presence of my friend group. I gave them the go ahead to head on to Courtyard 2 without me. I was given questionable looks, especially by Mikasa, who pulled me over to ask what was wrong. I told her that there was something I needed to do before following them, not mentioning that I was really going to Courtyard 3, maybe hoping to see Levi situated under the large oak tree again. She gave me a quick glance of doubt, but then shook her head and told me to get whatever it was I needed to get done quickly, and gave me a small smile before hurrying after Armin, who was waiting patiently a bit further away.

Mikasa and Armin have been sensing a bit of change in me ever since I stayed at Levi's dorm overnight last weekend, and I admit that I could see it too. When we walk around campus, I notice I tend to stare at the upperclassmen groupies more than I should, maybe hoping to sneak a peek and find the raven among them. I never did though, so I decided to find other ways to encounter him, and so here I was, sitting at the same park bench as when I saw him here the first time.

The peacefulness during lunch was nice, I didn't have to listen to Connie and Jean's constant bickering, Mikasa's overprotectiveness, Armin's conspiracy theories, or have to worry about Sasha stealing my food and having to remain a starving mess for the rest of the day. It also have me some time to think to myself.

_~Flashback~_

When I woke up, Levi was in the kitchen, shirtless, stirring something up which I just assumed was tea. I looked around the room, starting to remember the smaller details that I was too drunk to notice last night. He had a larger bed than the average ones, and the room was just larger than the others in general. I also noticed that there wasn't a second bed, meaning that he most likely didn't have a roommate.

He walked up to me holding his tea in one hand, while pointing to my right, which had a glass of water and some painkillers. "Judging by how wasted you were last night, I'm guessing you have one hell of a hangover right about now." I thanked him and accepted the items and as I moved, a sharp pain went straight to my head and I felt like it was on fire. I groaned and tugged at my hair as I heard the older man chuckle softly.

"Yep, have fun with that hangover, kid," he said, walking back into the kitchen, sipping his tea. I caught myself staring at his freakishly hot back muscles and wiped at the newly forming drool at the corner of my mouth. I moaned and lied back in bed before immediately slapping my hands over my mouth and heating up in embarrassment.

Levi's eyes widened and I felt like killing myself right there on the spot. I just fucking MOANED looking at the man's back muscles.

And he heard it.

"Moaning looking at another man's back muscles, Jaeger? You're gonna have to ask me on a date first, brat. I don't just fuck whoever."

Yep that's it. I'm committing.

"I-I'm... That's not what I! I-I mean... I didn't...!"

Levi scoffed and grabbed something from a desk drawer. He walked up to me, "get up kid." I pushed myself up, still bright red from my previous outburst. He obviously saw through my thoughts and smirked, taking a hold of my hands in his.

I gasped at the sudden touch. His hands were cold, but very soft, he had long, pale fingers, which were taking a hold of my own hands.

Oh what I'd let those fingers do to me...

"Calm down brat," he uttered, dropping some more painkillers into my hand before slowly letting go, my hands sill aching and longing for his soft touch for a bit longer.

What the hell, Eren? You don't even know this guy that well, stop thinking these thoughts.

"Don't take them all at once," Levi's voice replied, cutting through my thoughts. "Take them slowly throughout the day, and only if you feel like shit again."

"Y-yeah, thanks Levi."

"Tch, yeah whatever," he replied.

Silence.

I glanced over at the clock, 9:30AM. "SHIT SHIT SHIT!" I yelled, jumping out of bed ina desperate hurry to gather my things. "I'm late for morning class!"

I grabbed my phone off of the nightstand next to me and saw around 200 missed calls and texts from my friends.

_Mikasa Ackerman - 74 missed calls 21 new messages_

_Armin Arlert: 33 missed calls 37 new messages_

_Sasha B. - 12 missed calls 7 new messages_

_Connie S. - 9 missed calls 19 new messages_

_Annie Leonhart - 29 missed calls 5 new messages_

Damn it damn it damn it!

I quickly scrolled through all of the messages, trying to reply to them all quickly telling them I'm okay and alive. I figured Jean and Marco were still recovering somewhere from last night's events, there were zero calls or messages from either of them. I rolled my eyes and typed a quick message in our group chat.

Me - "Hey guys! Sorry I went AWOL! A classmate let me crash at their place bc I was too wasted to get back by myself but thx for checking in I'm alive!"

"Hmm last time I checked we didn't have any classes together," a deep voice verbalized behind me. I jerked and turned my head slightly to my left. Levi was close. VERY close. I could feel his warm breath exhaling towards the shell of my ear, sending shivers down my spine.

"U-Uh yeah, I know, I just need an excuse so that my friends don't think I'm going home with a stranger."

Levi slightly raised his eyebrows and narrowed his eyes partially. "What do you mean brat? We're practically strangers. A few unfortunate meetings doesn't make us buddy-buddy."

I felt my frown slowly take shape, I could read people very well, but Levi was something else. One minute he'd be all friendly and kind, offering shelter and painkillers to drunk freshman, and the next he was all up in your face, telling you that he didn't want anything to do with you.

We found ourselves in another awkward moment of silence before I spoke up softly. "Hey Levi, can I ask you a question?"

"Depends. Will it piss me off?"

"Probably, but I'm going to ask you anyways, okay?"

Levi snorted, his eyes sporting some sort of amusement whilst he leaned up against the wall opposite of me, muscles flexing slightly as he crossed them across his chest. I felt my breath hitch before reminding myself to not forget my question and look like an idiot.

"Tch. If you're just going to ask anyway why'd you bother asking kid?"

"I-I don't know. It's just... why'd you let me crash here? I know you're not the most friendliest with newbies... and um I'm a freshman so..."

Levi put his cup down on the island and looked me dead in the eyes before replying. "Don't get your hopes up Jaeger, I just happen to have a past with being young and drunk that I'd rather not get into right now. Just don't be stupid and wander aimlessly if you're wasted okay? It just called human decency."

I nodded slowly and looked down at my lap. A past with being drunk? Did that have to do with Annie's friends? I avoided asking more questions, his expression seemed more grim than teasing now, and I didn't feel like pushing my luck with him.

"SHIT SHIT SHIT! LEVI YOU DISTRACTED ME I HAVE CLASSES!"

Levi raised his eyebrow, "if I recall correctly, I wasn't the one taking five years to ask a simple question."

I rolled my eyes and hurriedly grabbed my phone and chipmunk ears off of the floor. A stabbing pain shot through my head as I jerked my body throughout the room, gathering my belongings. Levi was leaning against the wall, his arm still crossed as he wore a smug smirk on his face. I narrowed my eyes and stood in front of him, looking down as he attempted to portray his innocence.

"Why do you look so smug?"

Levi chuckled and paused for an instant.

"It's Saturday you little shit."

* * * * * 

_~End of Flashback~_

Before I left his dorm room, I stood in his doorway I asked Levi a question.

"Um, so what do I do if I want to talk to you again?"

I regretted asking it as soon as I said it, but he didn't even flinch and responded in a teasing manner.

"Tch, cocky brat, you sure ask a lot of questions." He sighed before proceeding.

"If somehow we end up bumping into each other again, feel free to come up and bother me."

And here I was, waiting in Courtyard 3 instead of 2, waiting for the shorter man to show up so that I could "bump into him again". I had been pretending to be on my phone for a while now, trying not to act stupid sitting on a large bench by myself without anything to work on like a loser. Levi didn't show up yet, and I was starting to think that he wasn't going to come.

Of course not Eren, he doesn't have to sit here every fucking day, he has a life too, he's probably having lunch with some friends.

I mumbled curses to myself as I picked myself off of the bench and depressingly looked back at the empty oak tree. Maybe this was a stupid idea, but I really wanted to know Levi better. He was the one person who I couldn't read, and that somehow sent a rush of adrenaline down my spine. He was an oddball, if I'm even one to talk, but I guess that's why I'm so drawn to him.

I proceeded out of the courtyard, disappointed that the raven haired man was nowhere in sight as I proceeded through the campus hallways toward Courtyard 2.

"Damn you shitty glasses!"

I froze in my spot as I recognized who the deep voice belonged to. I quickly rounded the corner and saw the older man talking to someone. He was facing away from me, talking to what seemed like a person around my own height. They had dark brown hair and brown eyes, covered with some thick goggles, their lab coat dancing as they swirled around Levi, making plentiful of hand motions.

"But Leviiiii! It was an accident! I didn't mean to!"

"Tell me how the fuck you managed to set the chemistry lab on fire for the third time this month on accident AGAIN?!" Levi demanded, angrily, grabbing their shirt, although it did make him look awkward, considering the fact that he had to stand on his tiptoes in order to even reach the top of their shirt. "I had to spend my lunch break explaining to Principal Pyxis why you shouldn't be expelled from here you damn shithead!"

"I'M SORRY I'M SORRY LEVII DON'T KILL ME!"

"Tch," he said, letting go of them while pushing a bit, leaving them stumbling back a little. "Be lucky that I'm constantly saving your ass, or else you would've been expelled from this place a long time ago."

"Hehe of course, my little shrimp, that's why I'm your best friend!" They exclaimed, engulfing the raven in a giant bear hug. "Damn you Hanji! You're pushing it!" He yelled, attempting to pry their arms off of himself. The brunette laughed and finally looked up, making eye contact with me. I squeaked and realized that I have been eavesdropping on their whole conversation.

"Hey L, looks like you have a little admirer," they said, pinching Levi's arm.

Levi scoffed and turned around slowly, making eye contact with me. His eyes widened slightly, however, he didn't look all that surprised. "Oh, Eren, what a pleasure," he breathed, sarcastically.

"Ooohhh Levi, who's thisss? A new friend?" The brunette said, peeking behind Levi's shoulder. "Goddamnit shitty glasses, this is brat, and no we're not friends," he exclaimed rather coldly.

Ouch. That shouldn't have hurt as much as it did.

"Hello there, my name is Eren," I said, holding out my hand for the taller one to take.

"Ah! Hello there Eren! My name is Hanji Zoe! I use they,them pronouns, I'm a chemistry major and I'm also one of Levi's best friends! I know right? It's hard to believe that Levi even has friends to begin with, but here I am! Oh, there's also Captain Eyebrows, but he's always invested with aliens, simulations and all of that fun stuff. Oh my god wait wait wait, how do you even know Levi?! Levi doesn't really make friends because he's such a short angry man, but I didn't care really, he just doesn't take his old people medication. Oh wait, if you guys aren't "friends" are you boyfriends?!! I know it's really hard for Levi to get close to people ever sinc- OW!"

Levi smacked the back of Hanji's head and shot them a piercing glare. "No Hanji, I'm not dating anyone and I'd like to keep it that way," he said, gritting his teeth.

Hanji pouted and crossed their arms a bit. "Aww that's too bad, you guys would be super cute thoughhh," they said, dragging the last word. I blushed slightly as Hanji started giggling, ruffling my hair. "Aww Eren, you're too cute, hey Levi? If you're not gonna have him can I steal him?"

"Hell no."

Huh? Did he actually care about me then?

"You're probably going to perform some shitty experiments on him and I'm going to be the one convincing the police not to arrest you when you accidentally murder him," Levi continued, rolling his eyes.

Oh.

Hanji giggled and slapped my back. "He's just kidding, kiddo. I wouldn't do anything to hurt you toooo bad."

I started nervous laughing and began to scratch the back of my neck, "ehehe yeah I guess not.''

"Look shitty glasses, you're scaring the poor kid."

Hanji laughed it off and turned back to me, "So, Eren, me and Levi still have 45 minutes until our next class, if you're free, you can join us and the rest of our friend group at Rico's Grill for the rest of our lunch if you're up for it."

I turned to Levi; he just shrugged and nodded, "I told you last week right? If we somehow end up meeting you can bother me as much as you want, so there's no argument here, brat."

I shyly nodded my head in agreement. "If I'm not intruding, of course I'd love to come."

Hanji pumped their fist in the air and yelled something about 'making new friends', although they were so loud I couldn't quite make out the exact words.

Levi nodded and started walking, with Hanji following suit. "You're not intruding, Jaeger. If you were, we wouldn't have asked you in the first place."


End file.
